In the roofing applications, flat roofs are often made of polyurethane foam layers, which may be covered by various coatings, such as elastomeric coatings, such as silicone. It is difficult to maintain a uniform thickness when applying a foam or elastomeric material, which by its nature rises when applied to achieve a thickness above a roof base.
Furthermore, the faster that a foam applicator passes over a surface, the less volume of foam is applied, resulting in less of a thickness of the applied foam. To achieve thicker foam layers, a spray applicator is slowed down in velocity as it passes over the roof bases, so that more foam material is discharged per square unit of space of roof base being passed over by the spray applicator.
Various attempts have been made to apply foam uniformly, such as from an applicator moving at a uniform speed along a carriage track. However, at the end of each pass of an applicator over a portion of a roof base, the discharged foam is applied twice, i.e. once at the end of the pass to the edge, and again as it starts over above the previously applied foam, until the carriage can adjust to an unsprayed area.
Among prior art devices include U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,597 of Petrove which describes a wheeled robotic device for installing shingles on roofs. While it does not concern spraying of urethane foam upon a flat roof, it does describe a movable, wheeled carriage for use upon a roof.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,341 of Berry concerns the use of curved walls to accommodate spray paint applicators for curved surfaces, such as aircraft.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,363 of Stephens describes a mobile train which rides on parallel tracks for spraying the inside of a tunnel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,024 of MacIntyre discloses a spray and effector which uses pivoting members to move an armature which holds a spray apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,426 of Jordan discloses a method for the application of an aqueous coating upon a flat roof by applying a tiecoat to a mastic coat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,492 of Berry discloses a spray gun reciprocating device, wherein parallel tracks are used wherein each track is square in cross section, but further wherein each track guides a plurality of rollers thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,567 of Bambousek discloses a spray system for automobile bodies, including a paint booth, a paint robot apparatus movable therein, and a rail mechanism for supporting the apparatus thereat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,230 of Mayer describes a chemical composition for the application of a foam upon a flat roof.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,151 of Muraoka discloses a spray applicator wherein a discharge nozzle is moved transversally upon a frame placed adjacent and parallel to the surface having the foam being applied thereto. However, the applicator of Muraoka '151 does not solve the problem of excess foam being applied at the end of each transverse pass of the discharge nozzle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,557 of Edwards describes a movable carriage for a nozzle applying adhesive to the back of a movably advancing sheet of carpeting. Similarly, Australian Patent no. 294,996 of Keith describes a movable carriage for a nozzle applying a polyurethane foam coating to a movably advancing sheet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,323 of Volovsek also discloses the application of foam to a flat roof.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,965 and Canadian Patent no. 981,082, both of James et al, describe a self-contained trailer for environmentally containing a dispenser for uniformly dispensing urethane foam upon a terrestrial surface, wherein the problem of "skewing" occurs at the completion of each pass at the boundary edges of the surface to which are urethane foam is being applied. James '965 employs self-enclosed gantry robots to move the fluid discharge nozzle over the terrestrial surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,687 of Rivking discloses a foam applicator device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,135 of Bellafiore discloses an apparatus for spraying a coating upon a spherical object supported by a post, which apparatus includes a curved track for providing orbital movement of a spray applicator about the exterior spherical surface or the sphere to be coated. While they are curved in nature, the curved tracks thereof are provided for orbital movement about the sphere, not to change the speed, tilt and direction of a linearly moving nozzle.
Another attempt to solve the problem of "double spraying" at a pass edge has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,973 of Bellafiore, which describes a similar spray applicator, such as that of Autofoam.RTM. Company. This spray applicator includes a wheeled, self-movable vehicle having a carriage portion with a horizontal linear track thereon. The spray applicator moves from one end of the track to the other, opposite end of the track at the end of one pass, of the applicator, above a portion of a roof base, and then the applicator reverses direction upon the track.
However, to avoid the "double spraying" problem noted above, the Autofoam.RTM. device has an on-off switch which turns the applicator off at an appropriate time at the end of a pass while the applicator is reversing direction, and re-starts the applicator a short time later when the applicator has started to move in the opposite direction.
Moreover, there are severe problems with this approach, as the constant "on-off" starting and re-starting of the applicator causes fatigue to the metal or other material parts of the applicator, and a detrimental effect to the end product. In addition, the Bellafiore '973 and Autofoam.RTM. devices are bulky and complicated to use.